Picadillo: Simple Cuban Recipe

I do some of our grocery shopping at a small chain store called Fresh & Easy {do you guys have these in your area?}. Their F&E brands also are made without preservatives, artificial flavorings or colors {and many are kosher}, which is the biggest selling point. Anyway, while we were shopping last week, I notice they had rearranged much of our store and added a whole new ethnic section. And… look what I found!!! Time to make some traditional Picadillo! Quick-Cuban Style!

Every Latin household has GOYA products in their kitchen. I have to trek some miles to a Latin specialty store to get them though. In Southern Cali, every grocery store, small or large, has a collection of these Latin products. But, to my happy surprise, my local F&E now carriers them too!!! Yay! The Sazon box contains little packages of seasonings, including saffron. The jar of sofrito is a fabulous time saver. Think of it as a jar of marinara when making spaghetti. If you have a stocked seasonings collection, you don’t need the sazon seasoning and making a sofrito is super easy. Actually, you don’t neeeeed either of these items; they are both total cheats to the real thing. But hey, this busy Momma needs a few cheats here and there!

Picadillo is a Cuban classic. The ground meat hash is a meal many Cuban families eat on a regular basis, including mine. It is usually served over rice {brown, in my family’s case} with a side of fried bananas {another Cuban specialty}. However, I grew up eating much of my Cuban dinners with a fresh, sliced banana and that is how we enjoyed our picadillo last night. My recipe is made with ground turkey, instead of the traditional ground beef, and without pimentos {stuffed olives} since I can’t like olives to save my life {trust me, I’ve tried!}. But the heart and soul of my Americanized picadillo version still beats the same as its Cuban counterpart, promising a wealth of tomato and garlic, as well as a hefty kick of flavor. I hope you give this recipe {and some Latin products} a try! Enjoy!

Ingredients
~ 1lb of ground turkey
~ Onion, chopped
~ Garlic, and lots of it! Minced and pressed.
~ premade GOYA sofrito {or make your own. See links to recipes below.}***
~ 8oz can of tomato sauce
~ 16oz can of tomato
~ 1 package of Sazon con Azafran seasoning mix, oregano, 1 bay leaf and salt/pepper
~ Raisins
~ Oil
~ A bit of water to thin it out {dry white wine is used traditionally, however}

Directions
~ Saute sofrito, tomato and onion, add garlic when onion is softened
~ Add ground turkey, breaking it up with a spatula
~ Add seasonings and bay leaf
~ Once browned, add tomato sauce and water {adding more to thin as you desire}
~ Add raisins {these get SOO yummy onced cooked!}
~ Let go on low/medium flame until tomato sauce is cooked through and it reduces just a bit
~ Serve over rice with slices of bananas

Check out a few other of simple Latino recipes! Such as a ground turkey taco and Cuban black beans.